100 crack raids in three months

The frightening scale of the crack cocaine epidemic sweeping London is revealed today. Police raided the 100th drugs den this year in only one borough. Officers broke into a notorious crack house in Hackney in a continuing war on gangsters behind the multi-million trade in the Class A drug.

A new report reveals there are an estimated 45,000 crack users in London, compared with a few thousand a decade ago.

While most of the deadly drug is found in a handful of inner-city boroughs, the Greater London Authority study also warns it is spreading to the suburbs, with hotspots in areas such as Kingston, Ealing and Romford. The Met sees tackling crack as the number one priority in the fight against drugs. Last year it closed 516 dens.

This year it aims to shut more than 560.

Commander Stephen James, head of the Met's drugs directorate, said: " We reco gnise that crack cocaine is a growing problem and that its use destabilises communities and increases fear of crime. We are working very hard to reduce the availability of the drug and to reduce the harm it causes to its users."

He said police were fighting crack on several fronts. Officers were trying to stifle the supply of cocaine into the capital and had achieved high-value seizures in recent months.

Officers were also working to shut down the production of the drug by raiding the "cooking factories" that produce it from cocaine.

In addition, each borough commander had a priority to close crack houses within days of them being reported.

Police are closing down the houses - such as the Hackney den - using powers introduced in January to tackle anti-social behaviour. Officers can close premises within 48 hours and order them to be shut for up to six months as part of government efforts to deal with nuisance neighbours.

Crack - a highly addictive derivative of cocaine - gives its user an intense hit that lasts only a few minutes-A rock costs between ?10 and ?20. Users spend as much as ?500 a week on the drug, stealing and robbing to fund the habit.

Trade in crack has rocketed in recent years, driven by armed drug gangs motivated by massive profits who are increasingly migrating from London to the provinces.

The trade in cocaine is estimated to be worth up to ?3 billion a year in Britain. The amount confiscated in London rose to 360kg last year from 96kg in 2002, amid evidence that heroin dealers were diversifying their trade to include cocaine.

Last year a threat assessment by the National Criminal Intelligence Service concluded that gangs of Jamaican, West African, South Asian and white Britons were making millions from the growing market.

The report said: "Criminal groups have targeted existing heroin users."

The majority of the crack trade is con t rol led by Yardie barons, many of them based in Jamaica. Recent court cases have highlighted the massive scale of the cocaine market. Earlier this month Jamaican Owen Clarke, 46, known as The Father, was jailed for a global trafficking racket which supplied every major city in Britain.

He used couriers to smuggle in millions of pounds worth of cocaine. Police dismantled his network before he was finally caught "cooking" the crack himself.

In April, Lincoln White, 39, known as King Coke, was jailed after running one of the biggest crack cocaine dealing operations.

White owned two large houses in Jamaica but ran his empire from a rented flat in East Dulwich.

The GLA report also reveals that the Met recorded 2,138 offences involving the drug in the year 2002-03, an increase of 103 per cent since 1998.

The report concludes that while crack use in the United States is falling, in Britain it is still rising.